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PGM 1329 'NETHERSONIC' : oct.28-nov.4

Welcome to the astrological house of Scorpio...a time of darkening in the world around us, when Celtic mythology considered the veil between this world and the "world of the spirits" to be at its thinnest. The advent of Scorpio each year brings us the dark ambient genres of gloom, gothic, and dark atmospheres. This music displays a quest for strangeness, a taste for the ominous, and a fascination with darkness, death, and decay that's appropriate for the fall season, and celebrated on All Hallow's Eve.

Solemn sounds, fear, depression, doleful wailing, and mournful processions are the order of the day, but this music also has a mysterious restorative power that comes from the confrontation with challenging emotions. The Greeks called it...catharsis.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a doom-y, gloomy, dark ambient descent for Halloween called NETHERSONIC. Music is by ATRIUM CARCERI, MONOCUBE, HINTERLAND, RAISON D'ETRE, SOUND PHENOMENON, CAUL, FRANK BEISSEL & STEVE ROACH.

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 1328 'SPACEJAZZ 9 : 'RESTRAINED' - oct.21-28

When it comes to jazz, great musicianship is the standard. But there’s a bright line between virtuosity, power, and technical complexity, and the slow, modal, atmospheric lyricism of beloved artists like pianist BILL EVANS and trumpeter MILES DAVIS, on his classic album KIND OF BLUE.

Quiet. Subtle. Spacious.  It's not about how many notes you play, but how beautifully you play them. As one musician says, it's about "loving every note."

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, lyrical, atmospheric European jazz from the German ECM label, on a program called SPACEJAZZ 9: RESTRAINED. Music is by the TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO, the SOKRATIS SINOPOULOS QUARTET, the MATS EILERSEN TRIO, GIOVANNI GUIDI, ELENI KARAINDROU, and DOMINIC MILLER.

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 1298R 'SHADOWLANDS 2' : oct.14-21

Autumn brings transformations both subtle and powerful. The shadows lengthen as the focus of the sun moves south below the equator. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we now experience rapid seasonal climate change on top of slow global climate change. It's a transition marked by familiar changes in temperature, color, and activity in the natural world, disrupted by increasingly extreme weather events.

For ambient musicians, it's a time for complex tone colors burnished with glints of silver and gold, bittersweet harmonies, descending progressions, and gently melancholy emotions.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we transition to the darkening electro-acoustic soundscapes of autumn, on a program called SHADOWLANDS 2. Music is by MYCHAEL DANNA & TIM CLÉMENT, STEVE ROACH & MICHAEL STEARNS, MIGUEL NOYA, CLIFF MARTINEZ, ALEX HAAS, and LISA BELLA DONNA.  

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

PGM 1327 'WANDERING' : oct. 7-14

One of the key built-in features of music is movement. Fast or slow, steady or changing, ascending or descending in musical space — music invites us to move within it when we listen, while also inspiring us physically to move with it.

When we move in physical space, we normally have a destination, goal, or purpose. But when we explore a new environment, we like to be goal-free, take our time, and savor the experience. We can do this with the virtual environments of ambient music.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, the underrated pleasure of unplanned exploration, on a program called WANDERING.

Music is by ROBERT RICH & LUCA FORMENTINI, BJÖRN MEYER, JON DURANT & ROBERT JÜRJENDAL & PETER CHILVERS, SECONDFACE, and EIVIND AARSET.

[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]